ARUGULA SALAD WITH WHITE BEANS AND BACON

This salad is a copycat of my favorite salad from a neighborhood deli.  The exact description from their menu: arugula, pastina, cannellini beans, smokey bacon, walnuts, parmesan cheese, sherry vinaigrette.  I always order it without walnuts, because I firmly believe that nuts and fruit have no place in salads.  Also, I couldn't find a sherry vinaigrette anywhere, so regular balsamic took over dressing duty.  And finally, I realized I had a perfectly ripe avocado ready to be used, and everyone knows bacon and avocado are best friends, so I threw that on there after taking pictures.  The avocado was amazing and I highly recommend you also use one.

The lineup.  I baked the bacon, method here.

How cute is this little pasta?  Reminds me of couscous. 

This salad makes me so happy.

Ingredients

Arugula
Acini di pepe, cooked and cooled (or any tiny, pearled pasta)
Cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
Bacon, cooked and broken into bite sized pieces
Shaved parmesan cheese
Avocado
Balsamic vinaigrette, or any vinaigrette

Toss arugula in bowl with dressing.  Plate the arugula, then top with remaining ingredients.  Season entire salad with salt and fresh cracked pepper.  Vary amounts of ingredients based on your preferences!

HUMMUS CRUSTED CHICKEN

Do you ever bookmark recipes, only to forget about them and then of course, never make them?  Yeah. Me neither.  So when my friend, Nicole, sent me this recipe for Hummus Crusted Chicken I had two thoughts.  1, this chicken looks AMAZING.  And 2, this chicken looks FAMILIAR.  So I searched my saved recipes, and sure enough, there it was!  That's when you know you have to make something.  Nicole has never led me astray when it comes to food, and she absolutely raved about this chicken.  Oh, and did I mention it cooks in one pan and requires minimal prep?

I didn't follow the recipe EXACTLY (shocking, I know) so here are my changes: I used my mandoline to slice the veggies in record time, forgot to use an onion, fileted the chicken breasts so they'd cook faster, and used sumac AND smoked paprika for flavor.  Pat the chicken as dry as you can get it so the hummus sticks on there really well. 

Delicious and healthy dinner in half an hour, what more could you ask for?

P.S.  Apologies for the not great pictures.  Lack of daylight and desire to dig in are to blame.

BAKED TURKEY SPINACH MEATBALLS

These little meatballs are amazing.  Whenever I make them, I find myself hunched over the kitchen counter just popping them in my mouth.  You could find a more refined technique, like eating them with pasta and marinara, or inside a meatball sub, or with pesto and vegetables.  Don't be like me.  Or do, because it's a delicious way to live.  Also, these are delicious served with some soy sauce for dipping.

Before we get started, I need to tell you a little secret: you must taste the meatballs before you bake them!  How, you ask?  Prepare the meat mixture, then form a tiny little patty and cook it in a skillet, like a burger.  If it tastes fab, proceed.  If it needs some additional flavoring, add needed spices and test again.  Sounds like a pain, but it's a much better option than ending up with a huge batch of meatballs that aren't properly seasoned. 

Saute onions and seasonings, then add chopped spinach.

Allow the mixture of onions and spinach to cool, or throw it in the fridge to speed up the process.

Combine ground turkey, panko, and eggs.

Combine the two mixtures, then form into meatballs.

I am terrible at math, and Costco packages their meat in irregular portions.  I filled an entire baking sheet with meatballs only to realize I still had half the meat mixture left!  I also forgot we own several baking sheets, and instead grabbed a mini muffin tin, thinking, "Wow, this will be fantastic for meatballs!"  It was not.  The meatballs took longer to cook in the muffin tin, and got a weird char on the bottom.  Anyway, I ended up making a gazillion meatballs AND had meat leftover.  Stay tuned this week for a recipe (hint: homemade dumplings!) to use up any extra meat.  If you follow the recipe below and use the proper amount of turkey, you'll make about 40 meatballs.

Bake and enjoy!

Ingredients

2 lbs lean ground turkey
2 large eggs
1/2 to 3/4 cup Italian seasoned panko breadcrumbs (you may use more or less, depending on how sticky your mixture is)
4 tablespoons Worcestershire
1 large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 bags spinach, 8 ounces each

Chop spinach and set aside.  Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.  Stir in salt, pepper, oregano and crushed red pepper.  Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds to a minute, until fragrant.  Add a splash of Worcestershire if the mixture seems dry.  Add spinach by handfuls, stirring to wilt.  Cook until most liquid has evaporated from mixture, then set aside to cool.
Combine turkey, eggs, breadcrumbs and Worcestershire in large bowl.  Mix until well blended.  Add more breadcrumbs if mixture seems overly sticky.  Refrigerate 30-60 minutes to prepare the meat for handling, if necessary.  Combine meat and spinach mixture.  Prepare two baking sheets with Pam sprayed foil.  Form turkey into 1 1/2 inch meatballs.  Place on prepared baking sheets.  You should have about 40 meatballs.  Bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes, or until cooked through.